Pregnant mum guilty of Knifepoint car robbery at Rockville allegedly sparked by kidnapping

A Toowoomba man was lucky to walk away from a violent home invasion unscathed after a woman, who was high on meth, slashed and stabbed at him with a knife during a scuffle inside a car, a court heard.

Anna-Leise Jane Giffin leaving Toowoomba Courthouse on September 27, 2023.

A regional Queensland mother of three has been sentenced for a violent robbery and home invasion that occurred in Toowoomba more than a year ago.

A court heard Anna-Leise Jane Giffin, who is heavily pregnant with her fourth child, was high on methamphetamine when she walked into an unlocked home in April 2023 armed with a knife.

Giffin, who was under the influence of drugs, entered and demanded car keys to a Nissan Navara parked in the driveway.

She also picked up a mobile phone and stuffed it in her bra.

Although one of the men present was able to get the phone back, another threw Giffin the car keys when they realised she was armed with a knife.

As Giffin struggled to get the car started, one of the men jumped into the car and wrestled with the 30-year-old while she slashed and stabbed at him with the knife.

She then ran off on foot and attempted to hand herself into a police station about a month later.

Giffin fronted Toowoomba District Court on Monday and pleaded guilty to burglary while armed and attempted robbery.

Her criminal history included convictions of armed robbery and drug offending.

Judge Alexander Horneman-Wren SC said why Giffin tried to rob the household did not matter, noting the occupants would have been “utterly terrified” being confronted by an armed and “chaotic” home invader.

Judge Horneman-Wren said Giffin had not committed an offence since and had her life back on track following drug addiction and a domestic violence relationship.

The court heard Giffin was working and had been clean of drugs for some time which was backed up by documentation provided to the court.

Giffin was sentenced to a three-year and six-month jail term suspended for four years, and a two-year probation order.

Originally published as Pregnant mum guilty of Knifepoint car robbery at Rockville allegedly sparked by kidnapping